Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is one of the greatest American writers, who entered the history of world literature thanks to his wonderful novels about American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald brought to literature, not only his talent, but also gave many people a part of himself through his art. He teaches the readers the mistakes of his life, mistakes of his generation, and they carefully heed this lesson. With his works, we can evaluate an entire generation, and through his talent of storytelling we live together with the characters of each story or novel. The main theme of his works is the concept of the American Dream and the American life that fully reflected in his the most popular and recognizable novel The Great Gatsby.
The American Dream could not but became a subject of intense interest among the American writers. From the very beginning American fiction generally was living with the idea that the Dream was betrayed. The works of such writers as Theodor Dreiser, Norman Mailer, and Edward Albee are filled up with a critical attitude towards the subject of the image – a single American or some aspect of American life. The writers introduced a clearly made up idea of what the life in America should be. At the same time they were contrasting the idea world to the harsh reality. Scott Fitzgerald also judges the American Dream and the bourgeois America in his novel. Together with the other writers of “lost generation” that were disappointed in life and results of war, Fitzgerald persistently tried to discover something human in a human. The aim was to find the value that can resist civilization that sinks in dollar bills, in which there is no place for true feelings and emotions. (Seymour-Smith and Kimmens, 614)
Fitzgerald’s main goal in the novel is the destruction of the American Dream – this desire of success and becoming rich quickly. The most important thing for the people, who profess postulates of the American Dream, is that wealth and happiness are identical. It means identical possibilities for all people regardless of their social status and origin. The notion of this dream embodies the idea that America is the only one country, where all these things are possible. In the USA everything is built on that dream and it became a reality for everyone. Both wealthy and poor have an opportunity to succeed. You need patience and perseverance, as the dream requires hard work and the desire for something better.
This very theory Fitzgerald disapproves in the novel The Great Gatsby and his other works. The author argues that a person, who puts his all efforts and whole life to gain wealth, does not become happier from it. Vice versa, he loses his own identity, his spiritual world and as a result – the desire to live a full life. The author shows the tragedy of a man, who all his life sought for wealth that eventually led to his death.
The narrator in the novel is thirty-year-old Nick Carraway. He was born in the Midwest in a family of respected parents, graduated from prestigious university, was a member of World War I. In the postwar period he comes to New York to study banking, to “enter a closed social system, to penetrate the world of old money.” (Little, 12) Although, in his heart he still keeps the dream of becoming a writer. He is the narrator in the novel and tells the reader about the adventures, in which he took part. Everything stared when Nick rented an abandoned house in West Egg – the suburbs of New York City, where were the houses of the richest people in NY. The protagonist of the story is Nick’s neighbor, who soon becomes his closest friend. He is the owner of a large mansion with towers and marble swimming pool, expensive cars and a huge park with flowers and sculptures and an enormous library. He is a mysterious, eccentric, but lonely and, at first, suspicious young man named Jay Gatsby – the “Great Gatsby”. Nick Carraway is an embodiment of Fitzgerald’s true thoughts and ideas of the real American life. That is because Nick is an educated and open-minded man, thoughtful and ironic, tolerant to the others and is welcomed in the artificial world of rich and wealthy that “was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery.” (Fitzgerald, 155)
In front of the reader of The Great Gatsby opens up a bright picture of the ugliness of the bourgeois world. Jay Gatsby, at the very beginning of the novel, appears to be quite a mysterious person. He lives in one of the most luxurious mansion in West Egg. Jay is incredibly rich and almost every day accepts hundreds of guests that visit his parties. But neither guests of mysterious Gatsby nor neighbors know the real purpose of such a generosity, the sources of such Jay’s capital. Frankly speaking, it obviously does not bother anyone. These people are attracted with the rumors that circle around the figure of J. Gatsby. The mysterious behavior of Gatsby only strengthens, when Nick Carraway, together with the reader learns that Gatsby buys this house with a certain aim. He wants to settle down near the woman he loves all his life – Daisy Buchanan, hoping and waiting for her visit. And finally, the author introduces the reader with the real life story of the protagonist.
Gatsby and Daisy loved each other for a long time, but could not marry each other. He, being then a young officer, who was going to war – appeared to be a simple and poor man. Daisy was a daughter from a respected wealthy family, who could not socialize with a poor soldier. Gatsby returned from the war as a hero, but as before, without a penny in his pocket. After demobilization, he does not even what to buy civilian clothes. Without waiting for a loved one, Daisy marries a wealthy businessman Tom Buchanan. But after a while Gatsby gets lucky and becomes a millionaire.
All the same, the fate of Jay Gatsby is tragic, as it was the fate of the poor. Fame, respect, recognition, success and even celebration of love in the bourgeois world depend on money. As it was mentioned earlier, one of the postulates of the American Dream is equality of opportunities for all people regardless their financial status and origin. Here Fitzgerald seriously criticizes the society that perverts the human relationships and true pure feelings. He reveals the society that forces a person to commit a crime and creates the tragedy.
We understand that The Great Gatsby is the story about an ideal American boy. Gatsby survived World War I, being a courageous, strong and perseverant soldier. A son of poor parents, since childhood, he had not only to shape himself as an individual, but also to worry about his future and pave the way to the society. He had enough confidence and determination to build his own career, to catch a moment in order not to miss a chance to gain success.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2013. Print.
Little, Matthew. ""I Could Make Some Money": Cars And Currency In The Great Gatsby". Papers on Language & Literature (2015): 3-26. Print.
Seymour-Smith, Martin, and Andrew C Kimmens. World Authors, 1900-1950. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1996. Print.
